


But it said water!

by Clockworkcreation



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Adorable, Brotherly Love, Couch Cuddles, Drunkenness, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship/Love, Gen, Love, M/M, Tickle Fights, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 02:35:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14967260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clockworkcreation/pseuds/Clockworkcreation
Summary: The robots/ humans learn that sparkling water is like alcohol to steam powered robots.





	But it said water!

Grocery store home deliveries were a God send, Steve thought as he unpacked the bags that had arrived into the small kitchen preferred by band mates and close technicians. They little group surprisingly went through food fast, though sometimes it was from sheer waste. Hatchworth did like to make sandwiches and Rabbit loved her ice cream parades. Steve couldn’t blame them wanting to have fun or be helpful and he really couldn’t complain, after all he didn’t pay for the food and basically ate free of charge three meals a day in the Walter manor, plus snacks.

Deliveries kept him from having to explain to the automatons why they couldn’t come to the store with him or deal with a 3 hour long shopping trip while Rabbit got into everything at the store. Deliveries kept him from having to explain to the people what the automatons were. 

Yes home delivery was a good thing, Steve thought, at least when the store got it right. He frowned looking over the case of sparkling water bottles instead of the normal water he had ordered. He needed to call the store and have them pick up this mistake and bring the right water. 

He had just dialed the number when a rip sound was heard. Steve turned back to see Rabbit chugging one of the bottles. That girl could move silently when she wanted too. It never ceased to amaze him, just how quiet a 500 pound, steam powered machine could be. With a sigh, Steve hung up the phone. No returning the mistake now. "Steve this w-w-water is good! It’s so b-b-bubbly." Rabbit exclaimed, her hetero chromatic optics wide in delight. 

Steve wrinkled his nose, "You like sparkling water?" Steve was not a fan of the carbonated liquid.

Rabbit shrugged, "Never had it before *hic* But I like it!" She finished the bottle in her hand and grabbed another one, breaking the plastic seal. 

Steve shrugged; at least the water wouldn’t go to waste. "Okay, enjoy it then." He had musical equipment to look over. So with a slight wave, Steve left the kitchen.

Rabbit finished the second bottle. For a moment she went still then her lips starting to tick uncontrollably into a side smile. She needed to share this special water with her brothers. Gathering up a few bottles, she decided to look for them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Spine was easy enough to find considering the time of day. He was in living room 2, lying on the plush mahogany settee in the far back corner, reading a book. Living Room 2 was The Spine’s second favorite place to be when he wanted to be left alone in peace and quiet. It was a quiet room on the far left side of the house, with walls lined with book shelves holding books on all kinds of subjects. The Spine loved reading. Even after the invention of the internet and the limitless knowledge he could browse, there was nothing quite like the feel of a book in his hand. 

He was just getting to a thrilling part when. “Hey the Spiiiiiiiiine!” Rabbit voice broke the silence.

The Spine startled and glanced up. “Not now Rabbit.” He said before his optics returned to the pages before him. 

“But the Spiiiiiiiine. I got so-so-something *hic* to show you.” Rabbit whined flopping like a rag doll onto the edge of the settee.

The Spine ignored how the settee suddenly jolted under the extra weight. It was Rabbit’s speech pattern that got his attention. While Rabbit had her glitches this seemed different somehow. The Spine got a book mark, placed it in between the pages and set his book down before turning his full attention onto his sister.

“Rabbit are you feeling alright?” He asked as he took in her countenance. Rabbit was wearing an almost manic grin of delight but her lips kept twitching. It seems strange somehow. 

Rabbit giggled. “I’m g-g-great! You got to try this. *hic* It’s good!” She pushed an unopen plastic water bottle into his hands. 

The Spine turned the bottle over in his hands. Deer Park unflavored Sparkling Water; this was usually the brand of water they got for trips. He wasn’t quite sure what the sparkling label meant. The liquid inside did not appear to be shinier than normal. It was still sealed though so Rabbit probably wasn’t playing a trick on him. In fact she was quickly finishing an already open bottle in her hands. 

The Spine cracked open the seal and the water hiss like a cola as little bubbles began to form on the inside. He hesitated for a moment, Rabbit nodding at him eagerly to try it, as he brought the clear bottle up to his black silicone lips and took a sip.

His optics widened in surprise as the water moved over his tongue, little bubbles popping all the way down to his boiler. At first he wasn’t sure what to think so the Spine took a second sip, then a third. By the fourth sip he agreed Rabbit was right. This sparkling water was good. 

“Told ya, you’d l-l-l-ike it.” Rabbit teased opening another bottle for The Spine as he finished the first bottle quickly, she handed him a second one. He was starting to feel funny, strangely unfocused, and giggly as he let out a rumbling chuckle from deep in his chest.

“Rabbit…this *hic* this is the best. You…You’re the bestest *hic* big sister a bot could want.” The Spine praised putting and arm around Rabbit’s shoulder. 

She giggled and they began to rock back and forth singing loudly a song of pure nonsense. It was so loud that Michael Reed popped his head through the door frame. “You two okay?” He asked. While it wasn’t too odd to see the bots cuddling each other, the strange rocking back and forth while cuddling seemed unusual. Even for the Walter manor.

At his voice they both looked up. 

“Mista Reed!” “Micheal!” They both greeted happily, too happily.

Michael came into the room and walked over to the automatons. “Are you two okay?” He repeated again, worry etched onto his face. Now that he was closer something was wrong, he could feel it but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. Plastic bottles littered the floor and Michael picked one up. Water bottles…but that would not explain why they were acting so out of character. 

Before Michael had a chance to react Rabbit pulled him into her lap and began nuzzling her face plate ever so gently into the human’s neck. “Awww little Michael, s-s-so soft, Rabbit cuddles you.” Michael blushed.

“Rabbit what are you….?” Michael wiggled slightly but Rabbit only tightened her hold upon him. Not enough to hurt her human but enough to trap him.

“Shh shh shh Rabbit’s here.” Rabbit hushed him as she snuggled and began humming a lullaby she hadn’t sung to him in years. Not since he was the little Reed of the household. 

Michael sighed. Rabbit was making it clear she had no intention of letting him go. He vaguely wondered if she was having a time malfunction in her memory banks and really did think he was little again. He looked over to his hope of silver rescue. “Spine? A little help?” he asked, only to regret it a moment later as the Spine took much too long to respond or focus on the human. 

The Spine didn’t say anything, so Michael tried again. “Spine? Rabbit won’t let me go.” 

The Spine frowned, “Now Rabbit, what did Pappy always teach us?” He asked his sister.

Michael blinked, in all his time around the bots, he never remembered hearing the Spine refer to Peter Walter the 1st as Pappy. Rabbit did so all the time but the Spine was always more formal than that. 

Rabbit continued to nuzzle Michael, pouting, as she answered the Spine. “Pappy always told us to share.” The Spine nodded.

It happened so fast, one moment Michael found himself freed from Rabbit’s cuddle clutches and immediately he was trapped in the Spine’s snuggling hold. “Wait a second here...” Michael struggled and just as before with Rabbit, the Spine tightened his hold until Michael could not wiggle. Michael forced himself to relax, even though the automatons were acting funny, they never held him too tight or in a way that restricted his breathing. He trusted his family completely.

“See he likes me better.” Rabbit said and the Spine’s face plates fell. He looked hurt, like actually deeply hurt by Rabbit’s comment. 

Michael spoke before he realized it. “I like you both very much and I love you both equally, you both know that.” 

The happy grin the Spine gave him would have made the human heart soar, if it wasn’t for the fact he was still trapped in the Spine’s arms. The Spine began cooing, petting and cuddling the human just like Rabbit had, with soft spoken murmurs of love and lullabies. Michael did his best to relax but as the Spine’s hand grazed his belly he couldn’t hold back the giggle that escaped his lips. 

The Spine and Rabbit shared a look, a mischievous, playful look. Michael didn’t like that look one bit. “Oh no, don’t you even think about it.” He warned in his best growl like, adult voice.

Michael found himself, laid down on the settee, trapped between the two giggling automatons. Suddenly they began to tickle. Michael burst out into laughter. He couldn’t help it. Rabbit and the Spine knew every one of his tickle spots and were trading off on who tickled where and who held him still for the tickling. 

“We like it when y-y-you laugh.” Rabbit said with a smile on her face and hiccups still bubbling out.

“A happy engineer is a healthy engineer.” The Spine spoke semi-serious before chuckling as he wiggled his silver fingers across the human’s belly once more. Michael shrieked with laughter. 

Steve glanced in the doorway at all the noise and left as quietly as he could. Michael was in no danger, that he could see and he wasn’t getting involved in that mess. 

Tears were beginning to form in Michael’s eyes. Just as Michael was reaching the point he couldn’t take anymore tickling they both stopped at once. He gasped for breath, completely exhausted. The Spine was cuddling against his left arm and side, basically pinning him to the settee. As much as Michael wanted to get up he couldn’t. Rabbit was on his right and she snuggled closer, humming her lullaby once again. The Spine's voice added a deep rumbling accompaniment. 

Tired eyes closed. The human lulled gently to sleep by the singing robots and the automatons followed with their own stasis soon after. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several hours had past. The Spine’s wake up program booted up. The springs in his head hurt. What had happened? He realized his hand was still tight around something soft and warm. Something very human feeling, his mind registered quickly. The Spine released his hand and tumbled off the settee in surprise. The moment he had his arm back Michael rubbed at his face, Rabbit still has his other side pinned.

“Michael…are you hurt? I am so sorry. I…I don’t know…what happened?” The Spine’s neck ticked, slightly glitching. His memory was missing/ had holes in it as he tried to recall the past few hours that lead into stasis.

Michael groaned slightly. “I’m good but…can you move Rabbit please?”

The Spine glanced over to his sister and almost panicked seeing how she was laying her head on Michael shoulder and pinning him. Was she hurting him? Had HE hurt him? “Rabbit, Rabbit…wake up.” The Spine lifted his sister off the settee, freeing Michael, as her blue optic flickered on followed by her green one. Now able to get up Michael did so.

The Spine put Rabbit down as soon as she was awake. “Uh my h-h-head. What happened? Did a s-s-shell go off?”

The Spine didn’t answer her, as he looked towards Michael who was walking towards the door while rotating his shoulder. “Michael?” He called, his voice betraying his worry. 

Michael turned back and smiled at them. “We’ll talk as soon as I get back. I need to pee badly.” He hurried out of the room. The Spine moved to follow, to make sure the human was alright, when his foot kicked an empty plastic bottle on the floor. Curios the Spine picked it up reading the label. Sparkling water… Suddenly missing memories came rushing back and the Spine groaned. 

Rabbit looked at the bottle in her brother’s silver hands. “Oh so that all r-r-really did happen.”

The Spine picked up his hat, straightened his back and swore off sparkling water right then and there. “Come on Rabbit, we owe Michael an apology.”

Rabbit fell into place besides her brother as they walked down the hallway. “Maybe…but ya g-g-got to admit the Spine, a giggling Michael Reed is really cute.”


End file.
